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TWO RECENT PUBLICATIONS from the EU have focused on the countries from eastern and central Europe who are applying to join (CECs). The Spring 1999 Economic Forecast from the Commission shows that while these countries were not as badly affected as those from the former Soviet Union by the Russian economic collapse, their average GDP growth has declined to 2.25% in 1998 from 5% in 1997. The Forecast includes Gross Domestic Product and Inflation for 1999 and 2000 which are given below. Meanwhile Eurostat has brought out its 'Statistical Yearbook on CECs 1998 - A statistical view of Central Europe'. It contains a mass of facts based on 1997 figures: Poland has the highest population (see page 5) and the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovenia have three inhabitants for every passenger car. At the other extreme, Albania has 52, but this was a mighty leap from the 6,572 of 1985.
Candidate Country |
% Annual Change in GDP |
% Annual Inflation |
% Annual Change in Population | ||
|
|
1999 |
2000 |
1999 |
2000 |
1997 |
|
Bulgaria |
+3.5 |
+4.0 |
6.6 |
7.2 |
-6.9 |
|
Czech Republic |
+0.3 |
+1.4 |
4.0 |
4.5 |
-1.0 |
|
Estonia |
+3.6 |
+5.0 |
3.9 |
2.3 |
-5.7 |
|
Hungary |
+4.0 |
+4.5 |
8.8 |
7.0 |
-3.9 |
|
Latvia |
+3.8 |
+4.9 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
-8.7 |
|
Lithuania |
+3.6 |
+4.9 |
2.5 |
4.5 |
-0.9 |
|
Poland |
+3.7 |
+3.9 |
7.9 |
7.5 |
+0.5 |
|
Romania |
-4.1 |
-2.1 |
38.0 |
24.0 |
-2.5 |
|
Slovakia |
+2.1 |
+3.4 |
10.0 |
8.5 |
+1.6 |
|
Slovenia |
+2.3 |
+3.2 |
10,2 |
11.0 |
-1.0 |
According to statistics recently released by Eurostat, women's average earnings are still significantly below those of men in all EU Member States. On average women seem to earn about a quarter less than men. Some of this difference is due to the imbalance in numbers of men and women employed in certain occupations. For example a third of all women working full time are office clerks compared to only 10% of men. But even when these 'structural differences' are removed from the calculations, Eurostat says that the gap still remains at around 15%. The figures (not including bonuses) are based on an EU-wide survey on full-time employees in all economic activities except agriculture, education, health, personal services and administration .
Member State |
Women's Gross Hourly Wages as a perrcentage of Men's |
|
|
|
|
Germany (former East) |
89.9 |
|
Denmark |
88.1 |
|
Sweden |
87.0 |
|
Luxembourg |
83.9 |
|
Belgium |
83.2 |
|
Finland |
81.6 |
|
Germany (former Wast) |
76.9 |
|
France |
76.6 |
|
Italy |
76.5 |
|
EU average |
76.3 |
|
Spain |
74.0 |
|
UK |
73.7 |
|
Austria |
73.6 |
|
Ireland |
73.4 |
|
Portugal |
71.7 |
|
Netherlands |
70.6 |
|
Greece |
68.0 |
Latest figures for real agricultural income in the EU show that there was a general decline between 1997 and 1998. This masks considerable differences between countries however with large falls in Denmark and the U.K. Since 1990 there were more rises than falls with Sweden and Belgium as the main losers.
Country |
Indices 1997 (1990=100) |
% change 1998/1997 |
|
|
|
|
|
Luxembourg |
96.3 |
+2.1 |
|
Sweden |
72.3 |
+1.1 |
|
Germany |
131.6 |
+1.0 |
|
France |
120.7 |
+0.9 |
|
Italy |
112,8 |
-0.7 |
|
Greece |
97.5 |
-1.3 |
|
EU15 |
116.1 |
-3.9 |
|
Austria |
97.7 |
-4.2 |
|
Finland |
94.3 |
-6.0 |
|
Spain |
139,3 |
-6.2 |
|
Ireland |
130.0 |
-6.6 |
|
Belgium |
79.5 |
-8.4 |
|
Netherlands |
92.0 |
-11.7 |
|
Portugal |
96.4 |
-16.3 |
|
UK |
96.4 |
-16.3 |
|
Denmark |
117.2 |
-18.0 |
|
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